The clip starts with the camera positioned so that viewers see two women together in a bedroom. One is shown to be receiving a foot massage from the other, the latter dressed in servant’s clothes, while the former is dressed luxuriously on the sofa bed. The woman on the sofa bed’s hair is elegantly swept up but has strands dangling from the updo, and light makeup is done. The servant woman on the floor has her hair tied into braids and no makeup. They are both speaking Korean in a Japanese house, decorated with flowers and hues of blue, brown, and pink. The servant woman is distractedly questioning how far the other has traveled and congratulating her fortune to be coupled with such a powerful man, presumably her husband to be. The woman atop the sofa bed diverges and implies her contentment is false, saying she’d be satisfied staying with the other woman. The servant woman keeps congratulating her on what a husband she has while continuously massaging her feet in an attempt to distract her. The woman on the sofa bed says she is not sure if she even loves her husband, and the servant woman says she must. This prompts the woman on the sofa bed to remove her foot from the other’s grasp and asks how she knows she must love her husband. With her head hung low, the other responds that she’s been observing her behavior and describes her sighs and distant looks as ones of love and admiration for her husband-to-be. The woman on the sofa bed speaks in a desperate plea that even if she were to denounce her love for him and proclaim it for someone else, would the other woman still want her to marry him? The other sighs and grabs her foot once more, and says, “You will love him”. This makes the woman on the sofa bed slap her twice, pull her up from her feet, and push her out of her room.
This scene is one of my favorites from the film The Handmaiden, a sapphic historical thriller that takes place in Japanese-occupied Korea. The Japanese woman on the sofa bed, Hideko, is portrayed as elegantly wealthy and more powerful than her Korean inferior, Sook-hee. This portrayal is tied to both the visual of the scene and their ethnicities. Hideko’s Japanese garments and position atop the sofa bed display her power over Sook-hee as an occupier. She sits leisurely above Sook-hee, not only still but also receiving a foot massage from the other woman while she is undecorated in plain robes. Their conversation showcases the problems sapphic women had, and still have, regarding love and survival. Sook-hee’s congratulations are forced, and it is obvious they have been or want to be romantically involved. Hideko, holding the social power she does in occupied Korea, offers a denouncement of her engagement, but that does not satisfy Sook-hee. Sook-hee wants Hideko to go through with the marriage in order for Hideko to be provided for as a woman, something Sook-hee cannot offer her considering their time and environment. Hideko’s status allows her to simply question whether they should pursue their relationship fully, but Sook-hee’s does not. Their relationship is complicated by the historical context of their time. It works against them, as both their sexuality and ethnicity must be considered as a part of their choice to be together. I love this scene and believe the emotions they display: longing, suffering, wishfulness, distraction. It portrays the secretive nature of a sapphic relationship during this time, but also hopefulness in their ability to even consider future pursuit.